Archive for March, 2008:
Retail Week: A Mixed Bag Of Nothing
In like a lion, out like a lamb? Well March certainly isn’t ending on a high note, with new games this week being pretty scarce. The only major release, is a re-release of Call of Duty 4 for Xbox 360. The Playstation 3 receives absolutely nothing new and the other system have pretty meager pickings. But if you are interested in picking up anything this week, make sure you call ahead to a local retailer to make sure they’ve received their shipments, and we’ve avoided any extremely last minute delays.
Xbox 360: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Game of the Year Edition
Smash Court Tennis 3
Nintendo Wii: The Monkey King: The Legend Begins
WWII Aces
PS2: RC Mini Copter
Mana Khermia: Alchemists of Al-Revis
Ford Off Road Racing
PSP: Ford Off Road Racing
Nintendo DS: Toy Shop
Double Sequence: The Q-Virus Invasion
George of the Jungle
PC Games: Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory
Riddle of the Tomb
Great War Nations: The Spartans
Overclocked: A History of Violence
Diner Dash: Hometown Hero
Blokus
Xbox Gains 6 Original Shows This Summer
The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on some new original content coming to Xbox Live this summer. The six shows come direct from Peter Safran, which will fall into horror, comedy and sci-fi genres. No word on exactly what we can expect out of the six shows, which will have naturally a window of exclusivity to the 360, but they come from the mind of Safron who was involved in such projects as Scary Movie, Meet the Spartans and ran some digital promotion for 28 weeks later and the Hills have eyes. Its certainly an interesting idea, but given the limited userbase behind the console compared to other formats of delivery, I wouldn’t expect top tier productions.
Sony Store Under Construction, For 2 Weeks
Sony has taking the Playstation Store down for the next two weeks, as it undergoes some major renovations, and obviously as such, no new content will be released for the next two weeks. The overhaul seems a little untimely as it mucks with previously planned releases, such as Harmonix’s Rock Band freebie. It’s also strange about the lack of notice, and also fairly long length of time it is taking them to have the renovations up and running.
The redesign none the less has been a long time coming and hopefully the new feel and look will be very well worth the wait.
Rock Band Is Still Alive, For Free!
Tomorrow 360 owners will be able to take advantage of the first free song addition to a 360 game, and it only seems appropriate that it would be Still Alive, from Valve’s Portal. The song will not be available on PSN until April 17th, due to closure for renovations that were just announced this morning.
Hopefully this doesn’t pan out to be a nasty April’s fools joke, but at least word comes direct from Harmonix, so if they are lying, they’ll have plenty of angry fans to deal with and will probably be forced to give it out freely anyways.
VC Monday: Wonderboy And Cruis’n USA
Another monday brings a set of two classic titles to the Wii’s virtual console, but as the common trend in Monday seems to be, neither holds big appeal. As Nintendo seems to be ramping up to WiiWare, they also seem to be ramping down on the virtual console, and letting third party games take the major lead. Both Wonderboy and Cruis’n USA are now available for download, read on to find out more about the titles. It may not be a triple A Nintendo title, but at least it’s an addition to the small N64 lineup.
Cruis’n USA(TM) (Nintendo 64(R), 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone,
1,000 Wii Points): Ever felt like driving to the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore and the White House in one day? Well then, gear up to put your racing skills to the test in a frantic trip across the United States, following a route that you won’t find on any map. Whether it’s the rolling hills of Appalachia, the flowing cornfields of Iowa or the
crowded tunnels below Chicago, you’ll find yourself too focused on the intense racing action to worry about the scenery. Get started by picking from a garage full of cars to find the one that best suits your style–if you’re good enough, you’ll even find a few hidden ones to round out your selection. Then choose one of three different playing perspectives and get ready to hang on tight. With five difficulty levels, the ability to remove traffic or other racers, and two-player simultaneous racing, it’s enough to make you forget all about finding that next rest stop. Just watch out for the cows, OK?
Wonder Boy (Sega Master System, 1-2 players, Rated E for
Everyone–Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points): As Tom-Tom the Wonder Boy, it’s up to you to rescue your girlfriend Tanya from the vile clutches of the monster that has kidnapped her. To do so, you must
navigate a series of worlds in a race against time to reach your goal. Along the way, you’ll battle foes and collect fruit that will add to the amount of time you have to complete your mission. You can also receive helpful power-ups from various eggs, but make sure to avoid the bad eggs and poisonous mushrooms that sap your precious vitality. Find the magic doll in each level to open up hidden areas, and make it to the very end of your journey to rescue your one true love.
Newspaper Digging For Dirt
Have endless hours of playing video games left you a bloodthirsty amoral beast hell-bent on rending human flesh and destroying countless lives in your wake? It seems that somebody is hoping that’s the case. They’re also hoping you’ll tell your story for cash. A national newspaper in the United Kingdom has taken out an advertisement on StarNow (a website that advertises opportunities for hopeful actors) offering hundreds of pounds to the ‘right person’. The post asks for you to “write a few lines about how computer games turned you to crime”. This sounds like a wonderful opportunity for somebody to make video games a scapegoat in order to pay off legal fees, or maybe just the poorest excuse for journalistic research there’s ever been.
Gears of War Movie Set for 2010
Nothing gets gamers crossing their thumbs more than the announcement of another video game movie. Mostly there’s collective mutterings of “please don’t let Uwe Boll touch this” along with fervent hopes for success or adequacy depending on people’s level of optimism. Get your digits ready because there’s a date set for the Gears of War movie in the works. So far the only names attached to the project are Stuart Beattie who was a writer for the first “Pirates of the Carribean” film and of course Cliff Bleszinski, the game’s creator. The project is currently sans developer after reports that Len Wiseman (director of the newest Die Hard film) won’t be working on the project.
Prototype’s Multiplayer Says Goodbye
The last we heard of Prototype was pretty much back in August of 07 at its announcement, but the title is beginning to come back onto our radar as it nears its release date this Fall. While featuring very robust open-world single player content, Radical Entertainment has recently announced that Prototype will no longer include a multi player option.
Tim Bennison, Executive Producer over at RE, let us know that multi player had not been at the top of the developers list from the get go. They have instead focused on the plot of the gaming, hoping that gamers will take a break from multi player and instead familiarize themselves with Prototype’s protagonist Alex. Radical Entertainment hopes to make up for their lack of including multi player with an in depth storyline complete with an extensive list of supernatural abilities for the player to toy with.
But all is not lost as Xboxic lets us know that there is a possibility of a co-op addition provided on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, given the game does good in terms of sales. We are also assured that while Prototype will not include a multi player option, the game’s sequels will without a doubt include it.
Madden NFL 09 Announced; CE to Feature Head Coach 09
Just when you thought the football franchise was taking a break, EA announced Madden NFL 09, the latest entry in its long-running franchise. As one can expect, the game will feature a roster update, as well as various gameplay enhancements and tweaks.
Additionally, the publisher also announced that the Collector’s Edition will feature full versions of the game itself as well as NFL Head Coach 09. The two titles are being designed to interact with one another, allowing for plays to be created in Head Coach to be used in Madden 09. The Collector’s Edition will also include “exclusive classic Madden NFL gameplay” and bonus video content.
Madden NFL 09 will be available for the PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii and DS on August 12; the collector’s edition will be available only on the PS3 and Xbox 360 for $89.99.
Ten Things That Suck About Rock Band
Rock Band is an amazing experience – one that sucks you in the moment you lay your hands on the plastic guitar, or the drums, or the microphone. However, despite being so amazing, the game does have its fair share of defects, and that’s what Infoaddict takes a look at in this insightful list. Some of the major reasons for the game’s suckage is due to its multiplayer implementation, which has resulted in too few singers and quite a few other nibbles, one of which includes the absence of multiplayer leaderboards.
So, what else do you guys think are Rock Band’s faults or weakness?
Shiny + The Collective = Double Helix
Publisher Foundation 9 sent out word that the studio consisting of former developers Shiny and The Collective – first formed by a merger last year – is now known as Double Helix.
“Making games is in our DNA,” said new studio head Michael Saxs Persson. “The Double Helix name is perfect for our studio because it invokes the thought of two studios coming together to build a powerful new force in game development.”
The new studio is now working on three multi-platform games. The first of these is the upcoming Silent Hill 5.
WoW Bot Author Earned $2.8M Claims Blizzard
GamePolitics reports that Blizzard is claiming that World of Warcraft bot author Michael Donnelly has made a cool $2.8 million by selling his Glider software. This comes from recent motions filed in court.
Glider is a downloadable software that automatically plays the game for the user, letting players go up to level 70 without much personal effort. Donnelly, its author, was sued by Blizzard in February 2007 and both sides have been locked in a legal battle since then.
“Blizzard’s designs expectations are frustrated, and resources are allocated unevenly, when bots are introduced into the WoW universe, because bots spend far more time in-game than an ordinary player would and consume resources the entire time,” said the company in a legal statement.
Interestingly, Donnelly claims that his program does not violate Blizzard’s copyright because it never makes a true copy of the game client. The software currently sells for $25, with an optional $5 subscription offering additional features.
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 in Development
Wrestling fans rejoice as THQ has recently announced that a new WWE Smackdown vs Raw title is currently in development. Promised in THQ’s latest wrestling title is an all new tag-team experience complete with intuitive co-op plot lines. The game will be featured on all 3 major consoles with the Wii version including several alternative game types to facilitate pick up and play capabilities. Taking advantage of services like PSN and the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, THQ hopes to expand on WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 with regular content updates via digital delivery.
There was no official date on when the game will be out announced at this time.
Army of Two Demo on April 1
EA has announced that a downloadable playable demo of recently released co-op action game Army of Two will be released on Xbox Live Marketplace on April 1. It most probably won’t be an April Fool’s joke seeing as how the press release sounds so official, but be wary of suspicious demos.
The demo will feature a co-op training session and a Somalia level where players must work together to overthrow a Warlord. It will be exclusive to the Xbox 360; PS3 gamers get no love from EA.
Microsoft: NVIDIA Cause of Most Vista Crashes
We all know driver support for Windows Vista was poor when the operating system launched last year, but whose fault was it? Microsoft is putting 30% of the blame on NVIDIA’s shoulders, saying that drivers for the company’s graphics cards were the cause of many logged crashes.
This comes straight from recently released documents from Microsoft which also reveal that the company’s own drivers were also the culprit of 18% of the total crashes. ATI clocks in at 9.3%, with Intel at 8.8%.
Microsoft has recently released Windows Vista Service Pack 1, which, among many updates and fixes, reportedly boosts gaming performance.